Expectations
by I Worship Steven Moffat
Summary: When the Winchesters move to Lawrence, Kansas Dean finds that the next-door neighbours are both the weirdest and most interesting thing to happen to him in years. Destiel high school AU. MULTIPLE PAIRINGS. There WILL BE SEX IN LATER CHAPTERS, but it will NOT be explicit.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: There are a lot of pairings that will be in this story, so I'm going to try and list them all! Dean/Castiel (Destiel), Sam/Jess, Jo/Anna, Adam/Meg, Dean/Lisa (at the beginning), Ruby/Gordon, Lisa/Victor (later). There will be sex in later chapters, so when I get around to that I'll be changing the rating to M. However, the sex scenes will not be explicit.**

* * *

What Dean Winchester expected when he and his family moved to Lawrence, Kansas were just a few things. First, all of the girls would fall madly in love with him, as this had happened where they had used to live and because Dean was gorgeous. Second, the high school would be boring but good, especially for his brother Sam. Third, they were going to live in a very nice house in a very nice neighbourhood and the neighbours would not take kindly to his homemade fireworks.

Something Dean did not expect was for their next-door neighbours to be so weird.

The Winchesters were a perfectly normal family with perfectly normal names. John, Mary, Dean, and Sam. John was a lawyer and Mary worked in a restaurant. Sam was the model of a good kid. He was adorable, funny, sweet, not to mention smart.

At the age of fourteen-and-a-half, he was already saving up for law school. Dean was…different. He loved cars—especially his '67 Chevy Impala—and disliked school. Dean was smart. Enjoyed a good book, and was a fair writer. Played guitar in his spare time, too. But while he was a good enough kid and meant well, he was also a smartass.

Their next-door neighbours, however, were (to put it nicely) just downright strange.

Dean knew their names and general ages, if not the people themselves. There was the youngest and only girl, Anna. She was fifteen. After her there was Castiel or Cassiel—some weird name that Dean couldn't remember—who was the same age as him, seventeen. The next two were Gabriel and Balthazar, who were both either nineteen or twenty. The eldest were Michael and Luke, both in their early- to mid-twenties. Luke obviously was short for something, but because Dean's family had only been there for a week, they were not exactly clued in.

From what Dean could tell and what his parents had found out, they were all siblings, though apparently they didn't look much alike. Castiel/Cassiel and Anna were both registered at the local high school with the last name Novak, in any case. The odd thing was not the lack of parents. It was their demeanour.

Granted, Dean had not actually met any of them, but because his window overlooked their backyard he had seen them doing pretty strange things. The Winchesters had moved in late November, so there was a light layer of snow on the ground. The second night of having been there, Dean looked out of his window only to see them dancing wildly—or at least most of them.

He had also seen a face peering up at him. It had been too dark at the time to make out who it was or even what gender, but Dean thought the gesture was creepy and had shut his curtains tightly.

Only two nights after that he had been writing at his desk when he looked up. There was a window in the other house directly across from his own and there was a face peering at him. He just managed to see a pair of enormous blue eyes and a mop of unruly black hair before the face disappeared.

Dean was thoroughly perturbed, but also curious. The face could only belong to one of the youngest Novak's—Anna or Castiel/Cassiel. Unless, of course, one of the older guys had a creepy fetish or something. He had never seen their faces up close, so it was impossible to tell which of the two the eyes and hair belonged to.

Dean hoped it was the girl, but he wasn't quite sure why. He certainly wasn't homophobic—he had even had several gay friends at his old house, and shielded them from bullies. Maybe he just wasn't gay. Maybe it was because of the sheer sense of odd that emanated from the family.

The blue eyes plagued his mind through the entire night and through the weekend. For better or worse, Dean would find out who the owner was on Monday and he was anxious for the day to arrive.

* * *

Dean meandered slowly through the hall, not bothering to wait for the chattering crowds to disperse. A multitude of pretty girls were staring after him, overly-glossed lips practically on the floor. He smirked, but the cocky expression soon melted off of his face like hot wax.

The blue eyes. Their owner was hidden, blocked by the endless sea of people, but the eyes were staring so intently at him that Dean flinched. The hair was there as well, looking just as tousled as it had when he had first seen the person. Then the eyes flicked down to the short red-headed person in front of them and time resumed its pace.

Dean was buffeted by several kids before he snapped out of his reverie. Glancing down at his schedule, he saw that his next class, and surely the most interesting one, was biology.

The blue eyes had disappeared and he saw no more of them for the next day, try as he might. He had, however, gotten off to a fair start with all of his classes and had even gotten the number of a pretty brunette, Lisa Braeden.

Unbeknownst to Dean, his younger brother had already made a friend—Anna Novak, the girl next door. She was beautiful to Sam, with long red hair and pretty eyes. Being fourteen-and-a-half, he had no intentions of taking advantage of his newfound friend. That night, however, as soon as he fell asleep his dream were littered with her image. He had no clue about Dean's obsession with the owner of the blue eyes, so of course he didn't bother to mention that Anna's were brown.

The next few days came and went with no further sightings. In a fit of curiosity, Dean had purposely left open his shades in order to catch a glimpse of the face, but his attempts went sour.

It was not until Friday evening, when his family had gone out for a movie and dinner (Dean was not feeling too well and had decided to stay home), that Dean spotted them. He was catching the flu, but decided to go outside and do something before the sun went down.

Instead of going for a walk, Dean sat in their backyard, shivering but content. He had brought his guitar and a notebook and was attempting to compose a song. He kept messing up and restarting until he felt a great need to throw his guitar off a cliff. To calm himself down, Dean decided to play an old song his father had taught him. He wasn't really sure of the name, but it had always been his favourite thing to play.

_And when I look into the sunset_  
_I'll think of your eyes_

_How they shimmer in the sunlight_  
_And how they made me cry_

_When it gets cold at night_  
_I'll protect you_

_But when you find your way_  
_I'll let you go on_

It was simple, but his father had told him that sometimes simple was best. Dean was several verses in before he realised that he was being watched. A person was peering over the fence that divided his house and the Novak's. This was obviously the same person who had watched him the week before and on Monday.

"Hey!" he cried, leaping up and setting his guitar aside. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He heard a muffled thump and the person disappeared.

"Who are you!?" Dean yelled, hearing his voice echo in the cold evening air. "Why do you keep watching me?"

The face reappeared and Dean saw for the first time that it could not belong to a girl any more than his own face could. "I apologise," he said, his voice deep and gravely.

Dean felt something deep in his chest, but angrily pushed whatever it was away. "For what, stalking me?"

The boy sighed and neatly vaulted himself over the fence. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and jeans, but instead of a sweater or a winter coat he had on a dirty tan trenchcoat. "My name is Castiel. I believe that you are Dean."

"What kind of bastard names his kid 'Castiel'?" Dean wondered aloud. "Yeah, I'm Dean. You haven't answered my question, Cas."

"My name is—"

Dean held a hand up. "Yeah, buddy, I know what your name is. Given that it is a stupid ass name, I've elected to call you Cas."

The boy furrowed his brow. Now that Dean had actually seen him, he had to admit that the kid was attractive. For one, the whole deep voice thing was an extreme turn-on, especially since he was only seventeen. Then there were the penetrating blue eyes, which made you feel like you were being X-rayed. And of course the constantly mussed black hair. These only added to his general air of attractiveness—Cas was lean, but Dean could see the muscles in his legs and skinny arms. He had amazing cheekbones, which was a rare thing. Instead of attempting to grow sideburns or a beard, Cas had just a light five-o'clock shadow, which made him seem unkempt but sex-ready.

If only he didn't look so confused and talk like a frigging textbook.

"All right," he finally said with a calm smile. "I meant no harm. I was just observing you. You only moved here a week ago, right? Well, I was seeing what your mannerisms were. I don't have friends, you see, and I was trying to find out if you would make a good one. I enjoyed that song you were playing, by the way. My brother used to sing something like that, if only to make me be quiet. I hope I didn't disturb you."

Dean nodded, but he still felt sort of weirded out. Now that the kid wasn't talking like a college textbook, he was vomiting words out so fast Dean couldn't catch most of them. Instead of replying, he stood stock-still, mouth open slightly. "I…"

"Oh, sorry! My brother Gabriel's always saying that I talk too fast. Here, let me explain. I was observing your mannerisms in order to find out whether or not you would make a good friend. I also liked the song that you were playing earlier."

Dean swallowed. _Here's my chance_, he thought. _Here's my chance to run inside and never see this weirdo again!_ But being Dean, he didn't move. Unfortunately, Castiel was interesting. More interesting, in any case, than anyone else he would meet in Lawrence. So instead he replied. "Oh, okay. Um, my dad taught the song to me. I was trying to clear my head. Did you want, uh, a drink or a snack or something? My parents and brother are gone, so…"

His voice trailed off and Dean cursed himself. _Nice going, dumbass. You just told some stranger that you're home alone. What kind of grade-A idiot are you?_

Cas perked up. "That sounds lovely, thank you! Do you have any tea, by any chance? I'm afraid Gabriel and Balthazar have banned me from buying any. They say it's a snobby drink, but I just love it. If you don't, that's okay, though. I'll drink water, too."

Dean chuckled in spite of himself. "Yeah, I think we might have some tea. I'm not really a fan of it, but my brother and mom drink it. Come in."

Cas grinned and followed Dean inside like an overly excited puppy. Dean found that while he was much too chipper, Cas was funny and he couldn't help being slightly attracted to him. Oh, he wasn't gay, though! No, that was absolutely preposterous.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: There are a lot of pairings that will be in this story, so I'm going to try and list them all! Dean/Castiel (Destiel), Sam/Jess, Jo/Anna, Adam/Meg, Dean/Lisa (at the beginning), Ruby/Gordon, Lisa/Victor (later). There will be sex in later chapters, so when I get around to that I'll be changing the rating to M. However, the sex scenes will not be explicit.**

* * *

"Cas, hurry up!" Dean said, knocking hard on the front door. Two weeks. That's what it took to convince him. Cas was the best friend a guy could have. He laughed at Dean's jokes, spouted random sentences at him, and was just—good. Dean couldn't think of a better way to describe him than that. _Good._

The door opened to reveal not Cas, but his older brother. Dean knew this one. "Gabriel, where's Cas?"

Gabriel grinned mischievously. "He's not feeling well, kiddo. I'll have him call you later." the man winked and strolled down the porch steps and to his sleek Mercedes, closely followed by the blond and British Balthazar.

Dean sighed. It wasn't that he didn't have any friends at his school, because he did. A good number of them, in fact. It was just that Cas was easy to talk to. Once you got past the whole college-textbook thing, he was great. Eventually Dean had stopped needing the Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and had been able to translate what Cas said quite easily.

He grumbled to himself, but stomped to the bus stop anyway. At least he wouldn't be alone in any of his classes, as at least one of his friends was in them.

Sam, he knew, had left much earlier than Dean. As it turned out, he was a good writer and had been asked to come in early so that the teacher in charge of the school newspaper could read one of his things. Dean, as always, had decided to sleep through his alarm and had not had enough time to shower. He rubbed his hand through his oily hair, grimacing. Jo Harvelle was waiting at the bus stop already, tapping her foot in time to whatever song she was listening to on her iPod.

He came up behind her, grinning, and grabbed her by the shoulders. Jo leapt a foot in the air and smacked him. "Don't _do_ that, Winchester!" she said, eyes slightly wild.

He laughed easily. "Oh, come on. It's not like I'm some random creep! Where's Ash and Anna?"

Jo shrugged. "Ash is home sick and Anna texted me. Apparently she got up early to go do something and decided to go ahead in. What about Cas? I thought he was coming with you."

Dean sobered immediately, the grin sliding off of his face. "He's sick, apparently. Gabriel told me. I guess he caught the flu or something."

Jo nodded, clearly occupied by her own thoughts. They fell silent, Dean shivering slightly in the cold morning air, and waited for the bus to arrive.

* * *

_"Dean?"_

He certainly sounded sick. Maybe Gabriel wasn't just being a dickbag and maybe Cas did have the flu. "Hey, Cas. You feeling okay? I came by this morning but Gabriel just said you were sick."

_"I have the flu. Sorry, I forgot to call you. I guess I must've been asleep."_

Dean raised his eyebrows. So Gabriel _wasn't_ lying. "That sucks, man. I was going to drop by, give you some toast and tea to help you feel better. I, uh, don't have to if you're feeling nauseous or you just don't want to—"

Cas interrupted him, and Dean could practically hear his smile. _"That sounds really nice, Dean."_

Dean sighed with relief. "Oh, okay. I, uh, I'll come by in about twenty minutes, okay?"

_"Okay. See you then."_

Dean smiled to himself when he was fixing the thermos of Earl Grey (which, after two weeks, he had learned was Cas' favourite kind) and when he was slathering butter on the toast. They didn't have any good bread, so he had to use the gross whole grain kind. Luckily, Cas was sort of a health food nut, so Dean didn't think that he would mind. Sick people can't taste much, anyway.

He didn't bother knocking; the door was always unlocked in case any of the siblings forgot their key. The house was eerily quiet. Normally at this time of day Gabriel and Balthazar would be in the kitchen, making dinner and being generally annoying to anyone who happened to pass through.

"Cas?" Dean called. He heard a croaky reply from the second floor, where Cas' room was located. Dean ran up the stairs two at a time, being careful not to jostle the tea too much. Cas was tucked into his bed, surrounded by novels and textbooks.

Dean laughed at the sight of him. "Dude, are you seriously doing school while you're sick?"

Cas shrugged, flushing bright red. "Maybe," he muttered.

Dean gathered up all of the paper and pencils and books and set them down in the opposite side of the room. "You're just going to make yourself worse. The toast is probably crappy, but here you go." He sat down on the bed and handed Cas the paper towel-wrapped toast and the thermos of tea.

Cas smiled, looking almost shy as he accepted the nourishment. "Thank you. It's sort of lonely, being here with no one else."

Dean frowned. "Yeah, I noticed it seemed quiet. Where is everybody?"

"I believe that Anna is at Jo's house. Gabriel and Balthazar said something about hitting some bars, and Michael and Luke are away on a business trip."

Dean nodded. "Huh. Well, now you have me! Mom and Dad are out at work and Sammy's hanging out with that girl Jess. He's so stupid about it. Like I can't tell he's got a massive crush on her."

Cas began to laugh, but this triggered an explosion of coughing and he soon stopped. "Ow," he said weakly.

"Wow, you sound really bad. You should go take a shower or something. Sammy told me that the hot air clears your sinuses or whatever," said Dean, looking supremely worried. Cas smiled again.

"Calm down, _Mom_," he said, but Dean knew that Cas would do it anyway. He had a habit of that—pretending to protest about something Dean said but agreeing with him anyway.

Dean helped the sick boy out of bed, trying not to pay attention to the fact that Cas was wearing only a t-shirt and boxers, and assisted him to the bathroom. "Have you got the rest of it down, or do I need to help you?" Dean asked, only half-joking. Cas stopped in his tracks, eyes wide, but Dean didn't notice.

"I, um, I think I've got it," he said, blushing furiously and closing the door behind himself.

Dean was left thoroughly confused on the other side, still holding the fluffy white towel that Cas had been meaning to use. "Uh, Cas? I think you've forgotten something," he said, trying not to laugh.

The door opened a crack and a hand shot out, grabbing the towel. The "Sorry," that followed was muffled by the door and the sound of running water, but Dean smiled anyway.

* * *

"So how was your day?" Sam asked, twiddling his pencil. Dean shrugged.

"It was all right. School was boring, but Cas was home sick, so…" his voice trailed off. He wasn't exactly sure himself where the sentence had been heading, but he didn't miss the smirk on his little brother's face. "What?" he demanded.

Sam grinned. "Nothing. You guys just seem to be close, that's all."

Dean put down the knife he had been using to slice onions and raised his eyebrows. "Wow, Sam. Really? I'm not gay."

"I'm just saying…" Sam muttered, still smiling as he went back to his homework. "Hey, do you know what this means?"

Dean leaned over the counter to look at Sam's algebra homework. "Don't lie to me," he said, flicking his brother on the head. "Stop pretending to be stupid. I know you know that."

Sam glared at him. "Yeah, and what if I don't?" he asked, giving Dean the legendary puppy-dog eyes. His brother sighed.

"Okay. You see N? Well, you need to subtract that from itself and from -2N. Then you add 13 to -13 and you add it to 44 as well. So do that, okay?"

Sam nodded slowly, and scribbled down the necessary numbers. "And I'm supposed to divide -3N and 57 by -3, right?"

Dean nodded and smiled. "There, y'see! Easy. Just remember to always do the N first. What did you get as your answer?"

"Uh…negative nineteen?" Sam said, making the words sound more like a question than an answer.

Dean grinned. "Voila! Perfect. Now let me get back to dinner, all right?"

Sam ducked his head. "Thanks, Dean," he said, barely audible over the sound of the bubbling pot of water on the stove. He could have sworn that Dean replied, but he couldn't hear what his brother said. He was too busy smiling.

Their parents found them after dinner, up in Dean's room playing an old Mario game. Sam was losing, but for once Dean didn't tease him. They didn't know that people were watching them be brothers.

Sam fell asleep, head cushioned on the old beanbag they had dragged in, hands still on the controller. Dean tucked a blanket around his baby brother and went to sleep.

* * *

"Dean? Dean…Dean!"

"Mmf?"

"There's a nice girl on the phone for you, honey."

Dean groaned and rubbed his eyes. It was too bright—the sun hurt his eyes and his back hurt like hell. "Who is it?" he grunted, sitting up. Mary handed him the phone with a smile.

"Just talk to her, Dean. I'm off to work."

Dean waved goodbye and muttered a greeting into the phone. Instead of Jo, or even Anna, the voice that answered belonged to someone different entirely.

_"Hi, Dean!"_ Lisa chirped, sounding much too cheerful, considering how early it was. _"So, since it's a Saturday and everything, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out or something later?"_

Dean kicked off his blankets and got out of bed, still rubbing one eye. "Yeah, sure, sounds good. Um, what did you have in mind?"

_"Oh, I dunno. I mean, we can go see a movie, or get coffees, or anything, really! How about I come pick you up in a half-hour and we can choose then?"_

Dean nodded, but then remembered that he was only talking to her on the phone and said yes. They said their goodbyes and he tried to think of what he could possibly do on their "date".

When he tried asking his brother about it, Sam replied with, "I don't know, Dean! Take her to see a movie she likes, or something. I'm fourteen-and-a-half. I've never _been_ on a date before."

"Well, _sorry_," Dean said, slouching out of the room and back into his own. He had never been good at the whole dating thing. At fifteen, Dean had lost his virginity. From then on he was used to the routine—he and a friend would go out and in the morning they would wake up with most of their clothing removed.

He wasn't a crazed sex-addict, and he certainly wasn't having it all the time. Dean was just a guy who enjoyed the pleasure of a woman's company.

And no, he certainly wasn't sexist.

He finally decided that he would take Lisa out to the movies and then maybe they'd get some food. No…relations of any kind. Dean wasn't used to this, and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

"Sam, I'm going out!" he called, pulling on his old leather jacket. His brother shouted something back that he didn't quite hear.

Probably 'go to hell'.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: To clarify, despite the fact that I made Lisa kind of dumb, I am not sexist. I love women. I am a woman. I really don't want anyone getting the wrong impression. I made Lisa annoying because she annoys me, and I didn't make her stupid because I think women are stupid. We women are fucking fabulous. So. Just to clear everything up!**

**Dean really, ****_really_**** doesn't want to go to his parents' Christmas party.**

* * *

"Mom, I'm not going," Dean complained, putting his feet up on the coffee table. His mother shoved them off of it and wiped the table off for the fifth time.

"First of all, you aren't _going_ anywhere. And second, _yes, you are_," Mary replied, whacking the back of his head. He winced, but remained resolute.

"Yeah, but it's not like any of my friends'll wanna come," he whined.

"Stop complaining, Dean! We're having the Christmas party and that is final."

He let out an anguished sound somewhere between a wail and a sob. "Fine!"

His brother, who was seated on the couch, laughed. "Stop being so overdramatic, dude."

Dean threw a pillow at Sam and wailed again.

It wasn't that he disliked Christmas; it was in fact his favourite holiday. Dean wasn't good with older people, like his parents' friends. They made him uncomfortable with their judging looks about whatever he was wearing and how he treated his brother. They tended to ask stupid questions, like 'What's your favourite subject at school?' or 'What are you doing when you grow up?' How the hell was Dean supposed to know!?

It was bound to be considerably less horrible if his friends were there, but he severely doubted they would find it an attractive offer. Dean stood up anyway and slouched up the staircase and into his room, where he grabbed his mobile phone.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey, Cas. It's me." Dean glanced out of his bedroom window and saw Castiel seated at his computer, holding the phone steady with his shoulder while he typed something.

_"Oh. Hello, Dean. What do you need?"_

"Well, my parents are having some stupid Christmas party and I figured it would be less unbearable if you and some other people were here," Dean said, cursing himself for sounding so stupid. He saw Cas grinning at him from inside his house and managed a small wave.

_"That sounds nice, Dean."_

"So you'll come? It's Friday at seven. I can clear the basement and we can be down there instead of with the old people."

Cas laughed loudly. _"Yes, Dean, I'll come. Why are you such a worrywart about this kind of thing?"_

Dean shrugged. "I dunno. I'm not good with adults, I s'pose. I'll, um, I'll see you at school tomorrow, right?"

Cas affirmed this and they hang up. Dean sat back on his bed with his hands clasped underneath his head and thought. He thought about Cas and his eyes. He thought about Lisa Braeden, who was desperate for him to be in a steady relationship with her. He thought about Sam, who was smitten with Jessica Moore, a girl in his grade. He thought about everything and nothing at the same time.

But for the moment he was content.

Friday drew ever nearer, Dean dreading it more and more with every minute that passed. His friends, on the contrary, were excited. Jo and Anna kept chattering about what they would do (i.e. dancing, video games, etc) and Ruby, Meg, and Lisa would have constant conversations about their outfits.

Dean also invited Ash Harvelle, Victor Henriksen, Adam Milligan, and Gordon Walker, three of which were on the football team with him. In a fit of what he could only describe as brotherliness, he even let invited Jess, something Sam was not too happy about.

"But you're in love with her, dude," Dean said, when Sam yelled at him.

"I am not, and I don't want her to feel like I'm trying to—to _do it_ with her!" Sam said hotly, flushing around his neck and ears.

Dean let out a roar of laughter. "Jesus, Sammy! Calm down. I highly doubt that Jess'll think you're trying to have sex with her. You're fourteen-and-a-half."

Sam furrowed his brow, not certain of the trueness of his brother's statement. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, dork. Go do something productive, will you? I'm busy." Dean shoved Sam away from him and turned back to his computer screen. Despite his protests about how stupid they were, Lisa had convinced him to get a Skype account and she intended to talk to him on it, regardless of whether he felt the same way.

**L_Braeden says: hey dean :)**

**D_Winchester says: Hey**

**L_Braeden says: so did u have trouble w/ that English assmnt mr. shurley gave us?**

**D_Winchester says: Not really. Mr. Shurley's pretty cool, and I've read the book before. You?**

**L_Braeden says: lol ur so smart! im not much of a reader, soooo**

**D_Winchester says: Oh. I don't read a lot of stuff, but it's cool. I really like To Kill a Mockingbird.**

**L_Braeden says: lol whats that? sounds slightly horrific haha**

**D_Winchester says: No it's really cool. Not actually about killing mockingbirds!**

**L_Braeden says: oh ok wow im so stupid next 2 u! hey so the party on friday starts 7 rite?**

**D_Winchester says: No, you're not! And yeah, it is.**

**L_Braeden says: awesome! who all is coming?**

**D_Winchester says: So far, there's you, Anna, Jo, Cas, Adam, Ash, Samandriel, Victor, Gordon, Sam's friend Jess, Ruby and Meg.**

**L_Braeden says: oh. y is cas coming? dont u think hes…u know…weird? no offence or anything**

**D_Winchester says: We're friends.**

**L_Braeden says: oh god i made u mad didnt i?! im so sry**

**D_Winchester says: No, it's fine. I mean, Cas is a little bit eccentric. But we're good friends. I have to go, sorry.**

**L_Braeden says: well, any friend of u is a friend of mine! c u l8r :-***

For some reason, Dean found the whole thing exceedingly ridiculous. So what if Cas sometimes recited the entirety of The Hollow Men, without missing a beat? So what if he sometimes stared at Dean so intently it made him feel as if Cas could read his mind? So what if he didn't love to engage in discussions about girls and sports? He was Dean's friend.

"Kiss my ass," Dean mumbled, not really speaking to anyone.

"Stop it with the pacing already, Dean!" John said suddenly, jolting Dean out of his reverie. He had not realised that he had been aimlessly pacing up and down the hallway.

"Sorry," he grunted, and he went downstairs. The basement was prepared for the looming party (which would be in a half hour), with a sound system and an Xbox360, as well as snacks and some board games. Dean was feeling fidgety, so instead of glaring soulfully at himself in the bathroom mirror (which was what Sam was doing), he "fixed" the furniture and "fixed" the food—which was literally him eating one chip and then repositioning the bowl.

At exactly 7 o'clock, the doorbell rang. Dean heard Sam yelling to their parents that he would get it and then the faint chatter of the adults. A minute later, Jo and Anna bounded down the steps to the basement, both looking extremely pretty.

"Hey, Dean-o," Jo said, bouncing over and giving him a peck on the cheek.

"Hey, Harvelle," he shot back, ducking out of reach. "Where's Ash?"

Jo rolled her eyes at Anna. "Getting ready over at Anna's—Sorry, _Cas'_. The two of them should be here in a minute. Sam looked supremely disappointed when he saw us. What was that all about?"

Dean grinned. "He's got a crush on a nice girl named Jessica Moore. S'pose he wanted you to magically transform into her."

Anna smirked mischievously. "Think you know the feeling, Dean."

"Excuse me?" Dean asked, sounding defensive.

"Oh, nothing. Just something to do with a certain blue-eyed brother o' mine," she crooned, winking first at Dean and then Jo.

"Okay, let's get something straight. Cas and I are not in a relationship. There. Boom. Done." Dean frowned loudly at them both, but then smiled.

"Was it something I said?" Jo asked flirtatiously, but she and Anna turned around. Lisa Braeden was descending the staircase, beaming at Dean. She was dressed simply but prettily—a mid-thigh length black skirt, purple blouse, and boots.

"Hi," she said, tucking a lock of dark hair behind one ear. Jo tried to stop herself from gagging. Lisa was nice enough, but she wasn't the brightest bulb in the light fixture. She was also acting way too girlfriend-y towards Dean and Jo could tell he was slightly uncomfortable.

"Hey, Lisa," he said. He moved to hug her but she instead leaned up and kissed him right on the mouth.

"Oooooh!" crowed a loud voice from the stairwell. Dean was tempted to cry, 'who is it _now_!?' but he refrained from doing so.

Ruby and Meg were coming downstairs, both dressed slightly too provocatively. "Lisa and Dean!" Meg sang, laughing with the other girls.

"Oh shut up, Meg," Dean grumbled, but Lisa looked quite pleased at the attention.

"So what?" she demanded, mouth crooked into a triumphant smile.

The six of them bantered for a few minutes until Castiel, Ash, and the other guys arrived, all laughing and joking with one another (with the exception of Cas, who was looking slightly uncomfortable). Sam was behind, leading Jess. She really was a very pretty girl, with voluminous blonde curls and a cheery smile.

Dean noticed how happy his brother looked and couldn't help feeling that maybe this party wasn't that bad.


End file.
